10

The next day came.

Fentress was the first to wake. She had dreamed about something, but forgotten the dream immediately, only able to grasp at faint etches of it before they faded and left her with nothing. Beside her, Sully snored away, curled up in a bed of leaves. Fentress let her be.

She poked her head out of the hovel in which they taken shelter for the night. The forest remained silent, somehow more uncanny at dawn than it had been at night. Where had gone the chirp of songbirds, the buzz of insects? If she strained her ears she could make out a faint gurgle, deep, subterranean; the sound of the ground.

At the very least she had her bearings, aided by the direction the sun came streaming through the canopy. They would head east for the River Moss and regroup with Friar Alger, as had been the original plan. They would stick to that, in spite of Sosostris's vague warnings about Redwall. Sully was not in good enough condition to march farther for potentially no reason. And if the lizards really had gone for the Abbey, perhaps they and Alagadda's forces would clash and wind up slaying each other, or at least enough of each other to make the Redwallers's job easier.

Considering the previous day's events, Fentress was tempted to let Sully sleep, but they could not stay still for long. She shook her friend.

"Wake up, Sully."

Sully turned over. "Ugh."

"Wake up."

"I'm up already, whaddya want?"

"How's your paw?"

"Stiff. Swollen. Painful. I'll live."

"Did you have any dreams?"

Sully gave her a look. "Did you?"

"No."

"Me neither."

They walked the better half of the day before they reached the River Moss, slowed by Sully's paw, which Fentress could tell had worsened either during the night or through the wear and tear of their escapades the day prior, and would probably only continue to worsen as they walked. Fentress tried to help out as much as she could, supporting Sully's bad side, but she was limited not by her capacity to shoulder the burden but Sully's indignation. When Fentress offered to carry Sully on her back up a particularly treacherous-looking hill, Sully stamped her paw and jabbed a finger in Fentress's face.

"I'll hear none o'that charity business, I ain't been carried by anybeast since my mother carried me as a babe an' that ain't changin' today."

When they reached the river, they gave a unified sigh of thanks and plunged their sore footpaws into the water, which swirled and swirled across the banks.

"Our next goal is to find Alger and the others," said Fentress. "Alger said earlier they were hoping to find help on the river. Maybe they've already rounded up some—"

"Oh come on," said Sully. "Alger don't need us for that. Why d'we gotta be rushin' off everyplace as soon as we get t'where we was goin' afore? I know the situation's dire an' all, but we ain't helpin' much tuckerin' ourselves out runnin' to an' fro without thinkin' much about where we're even goin'."

Fentress knew that Sully was really asking respite for her paw; it was not like Sully to lament rushing anywhere. But she spoke sense either way. Alger could be anywhere on the river, north or south, and finding him might be an ordeal. They ought to at least figure out a plan before heading off on another march.

Not to mention, she could really go for a swim.

"Alright," she said. "We camp here for a good bit. I'll see what vittles I can round up. Maybe there's something in the river here."

Sully scrunched her face. "Like a fish? You don't expect me to eat fish, do you?"

"I know seafood's not much to your palate, but that's not all that's underwater. Seaweed may not look the most appetizing, but I've learned plenty of good ways to serve it to change that—Watch."

Sidling out of her shredded habit, Fentress plunged into the river. She had not swam in so long that the chill of the water startled her at first. But soon the memories flooded back. Water had once been her element, something she thrived in, nearly lived in. The earliest thing she could remember was her father teaching her how to swim, how to dive, how to hold her breath. She had not been a strong swimmer at first, and her father had kept demanding she get in the water, although she had cried and screamed for mother where it was safe and warm.

Now she felt new life flooding into her. Streaming to the bottom of the river, she immediately found the kind of algae she knew to be edible and wrenched several leafy stalks out of the inundated soil.

Underwater was like flying, Fentress had always thought. She had never flown and had never known a bird well enough to ask them about it, but if anything was like flying it would be swimming, where weight didn't matter.

Of course, she still had to come up for air from time to time. She paddled her way up to the surface and emerged at the bank, shaking droplets from her head and plopping the seaweed next to Sully.

"Look here, this'll make—"

Sully was not alone on the bank of the river. Crawling across the mud toward them was Sosostris, barely recognizable from their previous encounter the night before. Her silver eyes were dull and dead in the light, like marbles, or pebbles. Her fur lacked all lustre, her pelt appeared ready to fall from her bone. Her arms, reaching and groping her way across the bank, could have been snapped clean in half by a reasonably strong creature.

"Please," said Sosostris, "Please help me."

"Get away from here," said Sully. "Don't touch me!"

Sosostris seized her by the habit and pulled her close. "Please! Please, I beg of you, I'll tell you anything, anything you want, no riddles, no gimmicks. I can tell you all about Lady Alagadda, and her army, and her captains, and how Jareck isn't nearly as old as he seems—"

"Sosostris," said Fentress. "Calm down and release her, or I will restrain you."

She had not expected the order to work, but Sosostris immediately let go of the habit and threw herself into the mud before Fentress, sniveling and pleading. "Please, you're reasonable, you're both goodbeasts, please. I know I'm just a dirty fox and I don't deserve anything, but please, please."

"Calm down, Sosostris," said Fentress. "Is that hare still after you?"

"She chased me all night," said Sosostris. "I couldn't shake her, she kept screaming—Look, look what she did!" Sosostris extended a bare, withered arm, across which ran a long scratch. "She did this with her rapier, I only barely managed to escape—Please! Don't let her kill me."

Sully shrugged. "That hare's a madbeast. What're we s'posed t'do? If you wanna live, you best start runnin'."

Sosostris let out a strangled sob and Fentress shot Sully a glare as she climbed out of the river. "Sosostris, we can try, but as my friend said, there's no guarantee we can do anything."

"Save me and I'll tell you everything about Alagadda, all her weaknesses, all her follies, all her—Oh no."

The brushes rustled. Fentress, Sully, and Sosostris stared in motionless silence for a moment before the hare emerged, rapier drawn, a red glint in her eye. Her uniform, at which Fentress had not gotten a good look in the fracas the night before, was torn and haggard, but recognizable as the uniform of the Long Patrol.

"Aha." The hare pointed her rapier at Sosostris. "Found ye. I'll gizzard your guts out—gut your gizzards out—garters your grains out—for wot y'did, that I will, or my name's not Staff Sergeant Bristol Isabella Rensselaer-LaBette."

"But ma'am," said Fentress, "You admitted yourself last night that this creature had done nothing wrong. In fact, so far she has been nothing but helpful and polite to us." (Shooting a glance at Sully to preempt any sarcastic quip.) "Foxes and vermin have often proved foul in the past, and continue to do so in this day and age, but the stories have shown rare instances where kind beasts come from the most unexpected places. On even the slightest chance that this fox is a goodbeast, we should not harm her until she prove otherwise."

"Oh ho," said Bristol Isabella Something-Something, a solitary loose medal jangling over her breast pocket, "I was mistaken indeed, mistaken about being mistaken. This vixen has most certainly proven herself a right scoundrel, that she has, and indeed was part of the horde that slew my entire platoon. For that, she'll die."

"It's a lie!" said Sosostris, seizing Fentress's paw. "I know to whom she's referring, and it isn't me, she's gotten me confused with someone else, she's mad—don't you see?"

As Bristol had begun to advance on the cowering vixen, Fentress forced herself in front of the hare to bar her path. "Let's not be rash, ma'am. Allow her to tell her story before slaying a defenseless beast."

Bristol scoffed. "Allow a vixen to speak her mischief? I'd rather toss a saber to a corsair, I'd rather hand a whip to a weasel. She's not defenseless as long as her tongue's still in her skull—but allow me to change that."

Fentress blocked her. "Ma'am. I know something bad has happened to you. But that's not an excuse to lose track of your senses and start slaughtering beasts willy-nilly—"

Bristol shoved Fentress aside with one sweep of her arm. Fentress, unready for the sudden display of strength, lost her balance and tripped. Sosostris made a whimpering noise and backed up against the bank of the river as Bristol advanced, baring the rapier menacingly.

Before she could reach the vixen, Sully stood up and blocked her path as well. "I'm not all too fond of the fox myself, but the day's too nice and the river too clean for you to sully it with blood."

"Oh, thank you, thank you," said Sosostris.

"Stow it, fox, you sound pathetic," said Sully.

Bristol sighed. "Has this vixen already wormed her way into your heads and possessed you to defend her? 'Tis not my prerogative to assault young maids, and I detest nothing more than harming goodbeasts. But if the two of you attempt to restrain me, I'll be forced to move you aside for your own good."

For a moment, Sully looked about ready to falter. Then, with a lunge, she seized Bristol's sword paw and wrenched at the rapier. Bristol's grip was tight and she did not let go, but she could not shake Sully either, and the two locked into an automaton dance of staggered steps and jerky movements. Fentress grabbed Bristol from behind and tried to restrain her flailing arms to little avail, able to watch over the hare's shoulder as Sosostris took the opportunity to scurry down the bank with nary a glance behind her, soon disappearing from the scene entirely.

Bristol let loose a feral howl and flung Fentress from her back, before sending a swift kick to Sully's injured ankle and causing the squirrel to fall over screeching in pain. The hare wheeled on Fentress and readied the rapier for a lunge.

Fentress held up her paws. "Don't."

A glint had sunk into Bristol's eye, clouded and misted with a bloody cataract. Bristol stood in position to lunge, a stertorous labored breathing ripping its way between her bared teeth. A few seconds passed. The mist subsided. Bristol lowered her weapon.

"Apologies, miss," said the hare. "Things got a little hectic there, I don't mean the two of ye any harm, even if you're a tad deluded." She turned to Sully. "You alright, miss?"

Sully lay on her back, holding her ankle and squinting tear-filled eyes.

Bristol gazed down the way Sosostris had fled, and then slumped to the ground. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry."

"Sure felt like you meant to," said Sully.

Fentress's fur had dried enough from her foray into the river and she put her habit back on, rubbing a bruise or two of her own she had received in the scuffle. "It's alright, ma'am. I know things must be difficult for you. When was the last time you rested, or had a good meal?"

"Meal," said Bristol, the word sailing piteously from her mouth. "'Tis as if I've never eaten in my whole life, that's how my stomach feels at least."

Grabbing the seaweed and brushing off a few flecks of dirt, Fentress set about the task of preparing it. "Hold quick, then, I'll have us a salad whipped up in no time. I'm not sure if it'll sate the legendary appetite of a Long Patrol hare, but it's better than nothing, no?"

Of course, Fentress had no instruments with which to prepare anything, even a salad. Seeing this, Bristol drew a dirk from a sheath on her side and passed it hilt-first to her. "Much thanks, friend. I haven't been feeling much myself lately, must be the famine I've been forced through, wot?"

"Oh, so we're all friends now," said Sully. "Okay."

Bristol's brows knitted. "I said my blinkin' apologies already, what more d'ye want from me? If you knew what that fox'd done, you'd—well no, no, this is no way for an officer of the Long Patrol to act to a civilian, wot. Pardon, been far too long since I've seen another living creature of respectable disposition, it's all either vermin or blinkin' lizards prowling about in the woods these days."

"There's no reason to provoke her, Sully," said Fentress. "It's clear she's sincere in her apologies. Please, ma'am, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Fentress, and this is my friend Sully. If the habits didn't give us away, we're from Redwall Abbey."

Bristol, still sitting, gave a lopsided bow that managed to hold to a few tattered vestiges of decorum. "Charmed, ladies. As I may have mentioned before, I'm Staff Sergeant Bristol Isabella Rensselaer-LaBette, but call me Bristol. None of that ma'aming either, unless you're under my command I'll hear none of it."

Sully gave her a salute. Fentress couldn't tell if the salute was sincere or in mockery.

The entire time, Fentress had been chopping away at the seaweed, and now had three portions to serve amongst them in bowls constructed from dockleaves. Bristol dug her face into hers and wolfed it down almost in one gulp.

"It's not much, I know," said Fentress, "But seaweed's rich food, good and hearty. That's what my father always told me, at least."

Bristol made scarfing noises.

When she finished, she wiped her mouth and stifled a belch. "Delicious, if I do say so myself. Never thought I'd say that about a stinkin' sea-plant! Of course, they say when you're famished everything tastes twice as exquisite as usual. Must be why I never met a food I didn't like!"

The three of them laughed together. It was good to see the hare in high spirits. She seemed much more like how Fentress had always envisioned a Long Patrol hare to seem, boisterous, jovial. Of course, all she had to go on as to the subject were stories from her father long ago, as she had never seen one with her own eyes before.

The mood was so light that Fentress didn't have the heart to ask Bristol what had happened to her and her platoon, and why she had pursued Sosostris with such single-minded determination. Probably not the kind of story one enjoys retelling. How long ago had it happened? How long had Bristol been on her own, wandering in this state? Her gaunt form could barely fill the narrow, torn uniform and its faded, unspooling threads. One eye, from time to time, twitched erratically. Her ears were lopsided and wild, her fur strewn with leaves and small sticks.

Alagadda probably had something to do with it. Bristol had claimed Sosostris was involved, and Sosostris during her frantic begging had admitted knowledge of Alagadda and her army. Would forging a common foe between them strengthen their camaraderie? A Long Patrol hare would be a vital ally in the strife to retake Redwall. But could Fentress trust Bristol to behave in a fashion befitting her rank and position? Might not a half-mad creature prove more a liability than a boon?

Well, at the very least, Fentress wouldn't abandon the hare to her own devices. They would find Friar Alger and ask him; he would know. Perhaps Sister Selma would have a remedy to whatever malady had stricken Bristol anyway. That would be for the best.

The river and the day were so placid and Fentress's thoughts so involved that she hardly realized she was nodding off until her head jolted up with the shock of falling asleep too fast. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Beside her, Bristol lay sprawled against the bank, uttering ghastly snores. Sully sat with her knees folded up under her arms, watching the water.

"Are you alright, Sully?" Fentress asked.

"Fen, d'you know where Alger an' the others are?"

"On the river, somewhere. We'll have to start marching again soon to search for them. Your paw doing better?"

"Why'd Alger wanna come to the river in the first place?"

Fentress mulled it over. "To get help, I believe he mentioned at some point."

"Help from what?"

Fentress shrugged. "Why?"

Sully pointed a finger upstream. Fentress narrowed her eyes and looked, but saw nothing but the same stretch of water that they had been staring at for the good part of morning. As she focused further, she could make out a small dot very far in the distance. The dot grew and grew, until it emerged as a craft of some sort sailing down the river, a wooden barge with a white sail and a mast.

The ship moved fast, until it came full force into view at the bend in the river nearest them, a massive oaken thing propelled by both wind and oar, a full galley of the latter heaving and hoing from the massive bulging sides of the boat. Fentress could make out only one small figure standing on the deck of the ship, a small, mousey creature with a large floppy hat and a bright crimson jacket.

"Ahoy," said Fentress, raising her paw. "You're Guosim, aren't you?"

The shrew on the mast held up a paw to some unseen creatures behind him. The oars ceased paddling and the ship slowed as drifted beside them.

"I thought Guosim rode in logboats," said Sully. "This here's a full river galleon."

As far as Fentress could remember, the Guosim had indeed sailed logboats instead of the much grander type of ship she now saw, as she had often encountered them partaking in trade or discussion with her father, who had been an important otter chieftain. Still, what other water-bound shrews in Mossflower could they be?

The shrew in the red jacket, who must have been the Log a Log, leaned over the railing on the ship and called to them. "You ladies goin' somewhere?"

The shrew's piercing gaze fell on Fentress and for the first time in what seemed like ages she felt the sting of her own inability to speak to creatures of authority and took a step back, bowing her head. It was odd, however. She hadn't felt the familiar anxiety when she spoke with either Sosostris or Bristol; in fact, she had taken charge on those conversations, with hardly any help needed from Sully. What was different about those two than the shrew captain perched atop his craft?

Sully caught on immediately to the shift in her demeanor and with a sigh returned the address. "We're lookin' for a few of our friends. You happen to notice a group of about twoscore Abbeydwellers roundabouts?"

A glint flashed in the Log a Log's eye. He reached up and ruffled a long, vibrant-colored feather that stuck out of his massive floppy hat. "Why, indeed we have. We've got exactly who you're searchin' for as guests back at our camp. Why don't you ladies hop aboard an' we can have you join 'em in no time?"

Sully and Fentress exchanged a glance. "Really?" said Sully. "That's great! Thanks a bunch!"

"Don't mention it," said the shrew. A few of his comrades, also shrews, had joined him abovedecks, all in much more traditional Guosim garb compared to their leader. "I'm Log a Log Kennebec, and this is my flagship, the Kennebec. Pleased to have you aboard."

A pair of shrews tossed down a rope ladder. It unfurled against the side of the ship, landing just off the bank of the river.

Fentress gave Bristol a light shake on the shoulder to rouse her, but she had fallen into some sort of deep slumber and only stirred a little. Her leg kicked out, and she made a whimpering noise.

"Who's that you got with you, ladies?" asked Log a Log Kennebec, pointing at Bristol with a cutlass he had drawn.

"A friend of ours," said Sully. Her voice had a waver of defensiveness that Fentress didn't understand. "She welcome too?"

Kennebec frowned and consulted one of the shrews nearby in hushed undertones. When he finished, a group of five or six crew members started filing down the rope ladder in quick succession, hardly even placing their footpaws on the rungs as they plopped into the shoals.

"Mayhaps we ought to… help her up, she don't look too steady, if you catch my drift."

"What does that mean?" whispered Fentress. Sully shrugged. Bristol looked a tad ragged, to be sure, but completely capable of climbing a simple rope ladder on her own, at least when she woke. Fentress shook the hare again, harder than before.

Bristol's eyes snapped open just as the shrew sailors gathered around her. She took one glance at them before turning her head to Fentress and Sully and uttering the word:

"Run!"

A moment later she had leapt up and lashed out at the nearest shrew, clipping him on the mouth and causing him to recoil. The other shrews immediately piled onto her from behind, wrestling her to the ground.

One of the shrews had taken out a wooden staff of some sort and pummeled Bristol over the back with it. Fentress seized the shrew's wrist as he raised the staff to swing again. "Stop, she doesn't know what she's doing, don't hurt her!"

With a trickle of blood running between her ears, Bristol forced her head up and shouted, "These traitors are in league with vermin! Run!"

Fentress tried to parse the words, tried to make meaning out of them. They seemed so unreal to her, so completely nonsensical, that even as the shrew she had accosted turned his baton on her and struck her across the face she fell to the ground not believing them.

A second blow came and everything went black.